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Introduction to Linux - A Hands on Guide

This guide was created as an overview of the Linux Operating System, geared toward new users as an exploration tour and getting started guide, with exercises at the end of each chapter.
For more advanced trainees it can be a desktop reference, and a collection of the base knowledge needed to proceed with system and network administration. This book contains many real life examples derived from the author's experience as a Linux system and network administrator, trainer and consultant. They hope these examples will help you to get a better understanding of the Linux system and that you feel encouraged to try out things on your own.

I have installed linux on many machines in my life but this is just weird (note i know how to install not configure :P ). I'm trying to install fedora 7 on an older machine with :
500mhz P3 processor
~180 ram (not sure but it is that or above)

20 GB HDD

During the install it says "Not enough ram running text install" and i go through the install smoothly. But when i boot it up for the first time it boots to a command line (?!) does anyone know how to fix this?

XP is six years old, Fedora 7 only five months. It would be better to compare between F7 and Vista.

Anyway, the minimal requirement for an F6 install was 256 and it may now even be a bit higher. The thing isn't that it won't run - it will just be rather slow. Using about 512MB of swap may be helpful in pumping of the amount of available memory but it is also slower - a lot - than RAM. The moment that your system starts swapping, you'll notice it right away.

Of course, with limited memory, it may be better not to use Gnome or KDE. The XFCE desktop is far less demanding but it is something you may need to get used to - it looks radically different from what most people are familiar with.

Have you tried startx? Even 180MB should be enough to at least bring up Gnome.

Yes it works thx for that. I have actually set it up so it has 4GB of swap which i think is completely over doing it but u never know. This is my temporary VPN/Domain controller server so i don't want to buy anything for it. It is slow but it is actually not that bad since i'm not running anything on there yet. I will try the XFCE thx for the advice !

ok there is a problem :/ each time i reboot it still puts me into the command line. Is there a way to make it go to XFCE driectly? I'm using this PC via VNC so it is not convenient if i have to connect a monitor each time i try to log in.

Yes it works thx for that. I have actually set it up so it has 4GB of swap which i think is completely over doing it but u never know. This is my temporary VPN/Domain controller server so i don't want to buy anything for it. It is slow but it is actually not that bad since i'm not running anything on there yet. I will try the XFCE thx for the advice !

ok there is a problem :/ each time i reboot it still puts me into the command line. Is there a way to make it go to XFCE driectly? I'm using this PC via VNC so it is not convenient if i have to connect a monitor each time i try to log in.

Typical recommendation is to use swap = 2X RAM. The swap is going to thrash like crazy with a big distro if you ever get it to run. A number of small distros would work, slack, vector, damn small, puppy. Check out distrowatch.com. If you're using samba, the samba version is probably more important than the distro.

Well, yes, I certainly wouldn't try anything higher than FC4; I have the Fedora Core 5 Bible and I see that this version already required 256MB RAM to run well. Unless you prefer a recent distro that uses XFCE by default, of course. Maybe you're not too Ubuntu minded but I think that Xubuntu wouldn't be a bad choice. If you select the alternate install cd, you won't need more than 64MB to install (but 128MB is recommended for it to run well).

Well, yes, I certainly wouldn't try anything higher than FC4; I have the Fedora Core 5 Bible and I see that this version already required 256MB RAM to run well. Unless you prefer a recent distro that uses XFCE by default, of course. Maybe you're not too Ubuntu minded but I think that Xubuntu wouldn't be a bad choice. If you select the alternate install cd, you won't need more than 64MB to install (but 128MB is recommended for it to run well).

I used the alterante CD thing and installed via Text based installation.
When i boot up it puts me into command line (which is not what i want) but when i type "startx" it says i need to be a superuser. So i type "sudo startx" but it asks for password!!! I didn't set the root password yet, so i leave it blank but it will not let me do anything any ideas how to solve that?